Land mass consisting of all of Earth's continents, that existed at beginning of the dominance of that same land by .

Pangaea lasted for approximately 50 million years, starting approximately 250 million years ago, at the start of the Mesozoic Era as well as the Triassic Period. It was both the product of plate tectonics and broke apart as a consequence of plate tectonics, eventually leading to the position of Earth's continents as we know them today.

Pangaea was an important contributor to the history of life on land, eliminating in particular ocean geographical barriers between what would be the continents. The result, presumably, was greater interspecific competition among organisms, especially large animals, than otherwise would have been the case had populations been confined to separate land masses.